Calculated Evil
by Rill with a view
Summary: The Doctor and Ace face testing times as they try to prevent a nuclear war. But what can they learn from the Master?
1. Potential

Author's Notes: I don't own the characters of the Doctor, Ace or anything at all to do with Doctor Who. I got the inspiration for this story when I was watching an article on this year's A-Level exam results on the TV news. ;) This is the first chapter of however many it takes me to tell this tale…

It was the kind of silence which could be sliced through with a knife. The coughing had subsided , leaving each student in that packed assembly hall alone with his or her own personal thoughts, insecurities and anxieties. There was so much resting upon the next three hours. Where had the last two years disappeared to? Had it all really come down to this?

Mr. Grout proudly surveyed the rows of students sat facing him. They were a good bunch on the whole, as strong a bunch of candidates as he had come across in twenty eight years of teaching. He had high hopes for many of them. He glanced up at the plain white clock on the wall behind him. The hands were moving relentlessly towards 10am. Mopping his forehead nervously with his handkerchief, a long standing habit in times of tension, he cleared his throat. It was time. Forty two pairs of eyes looked up at him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the time is now one minute to 10 o'clock. This exam will commence at 10 exactly. Please turn over your papers." He paused for a moment to watch the second hand complete it's journey through the full 360 degrees. "And you may begin, now."

With a certain amount of relief, Mr. Grout sat back down in his chair. It wasn't comfortable at all, just a simple wooden chair. Not that it mattered. Even a plumped up sofa would never be enough to put him at his ease in such circumstances. He hated invigilating, he hated seeing his students going through the agonies of the examinations. After all, in many ways the results would be a reflection upon his ability to teach A-Level Maths as well as a test of what his students knew. Had he prepared them fully for all eventualities? Too late to worry now. He sighed. It was going to be a very long morning.

**************************************************************************************

"Here Professor?" asked Ace incredulously. "This is where we're going to save the world from a nuclear war? It's just a bog standard crummy old school!"

"The ripples of time, Ace. Even the biggest events in the history of the universe had the humblest of origins. Did I ever tell you how the 200 year Tryanii/Guadspor trade conflict began? One piece of rotten fruit caused that lot, literally one piece of rotten fruit in the cargo hold of the galaxy's largest space freighter." Struck by a sudden thought, the Doctor rummaged around in his jacket pockets for a moment. "Would you care for a plum? I'm sure I've some here somewhere."

Ace shook her head and, gripping the railing, she peered into the school yard. "It's very quiet."

"It's an exam day." The Doctor nodded towards the red brick assembly hall where the huge curtains where drawn across the windows. " Mathematics A-Level." He added with relish.

"The day just gets better and better. OK, I think you'd better tell me all about your big plan."

"Today is the 23rd May 2003. Inside that hall there are 42 eager teenagers sitting their maths exam. All keen to get a place at the university of their choice. Most will succeed, a few will fail. Such is life. History tells us very little about most of them. But…" He paused for effect.

"Yes?"

"But one of those students is Bethany Tipton! Now do you see why we're here?"

Ace sighed. Sometimes getting an explanation out of the Doctor was like pulling teeth. "So who on earth is Bethany Tipton when she's at home?"

"That rather depends upon where home is, wouldn't you say? In fifteen years time Bethany Tipton will be 33 years old and living at number 10 Downing Street. She's a future Prime Minister of Britain, a very important one too. She holds office for 17 years and towards the end of that time she saves the world from a potential nuclear war. She'll be one of the greatest diplomats that your world has ever seen, also a very skilled politician and all round nice person. Her journey to power begins here, today. I hope."

"Hope? It all seemed cut and dried a few seconds ago. You make her sound like some kind of superwoman."

"Time is such a curious, fragile thing Ace. Sometimes it needs a little nudge to keep it running along on the right track. Especially when someone else is trying to nudge it in an altogether different direction." He smiled broadly at her. "Let's go in, shall we?"

**************************************************************************************

The staff room was a totally disgusting mess. Mr. Stream looked around disdainfully as he entered the room for his morning break. A gaggle of young English teachers were sat in the corner gossiping about their boyfriends as the plastic drinking cups mounted up around them. Not one of them so much as even glanced up as the elegantly dressed and bearded supply teacher walked past them. Mr. Stream felt a sudden rush of extreme irritation. He wasn't used to being ignored . No, he reminded himself, being inconspicuous here was a good thing. It would make life so much easier if he could come and go without too much attention being paid to him. Biting his lip, he crossed over to a chair on the far side of the room and shielded himself behind yesterday's coffee stained copy of The Guardian. The headlines were still all about the Iraq conflict. 

"Humans!" He murmured to himself. "So they think that's a war do they? I'll soon teach them all about war." 

He glanced at his left wrist where his watch was showing the time as being 10:15am. He passed his index finger across the face of the instrument and suddenly the hands and numerals were replaced by live pictures of the Maths exam. The Master scanned the hall for his target. Spotting Bethany Tipton he selected close-up and adjusted the picture to zoom in on her.

"Are you sitting comfortably my dear?" He whispered. "Then we'll begin…"


	2. Concentration

The Doctor strode purposefully along the corridor, for a relatively short man he set a brisk pace. Ace found herself, not for the first time, virtually jogging just to keep up with him. Suddenly he paused. Ace almost collided into his back as he stood there sniffing at the air. 

"What's wrong?" asked Ace. "Can you sense something?"

The Doctor nodded grimly. "If my hunch is right then things are far worse than I'd feared. Ace, there's boiled cabbage for lunch in the dining room today."

"Professor!" Ace punched him playfully on the shoulder blade. "There are some evils that even you can't eradicate, school dinners are beyond help." As he turned to smile at her, Ace could not fail to notice the worried look which briefly danced across his features. "You really are worried aren't you?"

"Until I know what we're up against, yes I am. I was expecting some kind of a challenge from him by now."

"Him?"

"The Master. I'm sure he's here in this building somewhere. He must have realised that I'd turn up, I don't like this Ace. Either he's over confident or … Come on Ace!" Those little legs were off and running again.

**************************************************************************************

Mr. Grout was in great danger. In great danger of falling asleep. His initial apprehension had given way to a far more relaxed state of mind. The students actually seemed to be doing rather well. Pens on paper, a quiet but beautiful symphony. Suddenly he caught a movement out of the corner of his eye. Good grief, there was a man looking through the door window at him. No, not looking at him after all but looking at the students. A concerned parent, no doubt. That was all very well but there is the correct time and place for everything and an anxious parent grinning though the door was hardly going to relax their offspring, not to mention the possibility of cheating. 

By the time that Mr. Grout had reached the door the strange little man was opening it. "You are not allowed in here while there's an exam in progress Mr… ?" He hissed.

"Doctor, call me Doctor. How is Bethany Tipton doing?"

Mr. Grout nodded to himself. Just as he'd thought, a stressed out parent. "Your daughter is in the middle of a very important exam. You really must wait until it's over you know. Why not grab yourself a coffee and come back later."

"My daughter?" For a moment the strange little man seemed locked in anguish. "My daughter…" He recovered quickly though. "No, no, Bethany isn't my daughter. To be honest she's not met me yet. Though I did help her out in a few years time when she was having a spot of trouble with… Ah, but I looked different then. That was three bodies ago. This is Ace, by the way."

Mr. Grout hadn't noticed the strangely dressed teenager hovering impatiently behind the Doctor. Well, strangely dressed for 2003 anyhow. Her clothes would have been highly fashionable back when he had first started teaching in the mid 1980s. 

"I don't know who either of you are, or what you want here but I suggest that you leave. I really do not have time for this nonsense." Stand firm. That's the way to deal with these people he thought.

**************************************************************************************

Bethany was starting to feel the pressure. The golden rule in all exams is to make sure that you have read the question correctly before you try to answer it. She knew that. She had carefully read the question over and over again. But surely that had said to the power of three a moment ago. Now it was talking about squaring the original answer. She blinked, no, it was definitely a 2. She must have imagined the 3? Or perhaps she needed to get her eyes tested. There had been several moments throughout the course of the exam when the writing on the question paper had seemed to blur before her eyes. Oh, pull yourself together Beth! She shook her head and blinked again. The end of the exam could not come soon enough.

**************************************************************************************

Mr. Grout was facing something of a minor dilemma. He could not leave the students unsupervised but equally he needed to get rid of this pair of lunatics before they caused more trouble than they already had done. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone. He switched it on and dialled the number of the staff room telephone.

**************************************************************************************

Now alone in the staff room, the Master got out of his chair as the telephone rang. "Hello, staff room. Mr. Stream speaking."

"Ah, hello. Ernie Grout here. I'm invigilating the Maths exam in the main hall. Well at least I should be, only there's a gentleman and a young lady causing a bit of a scene here. Would you come along and escort them to the Head's office perhaps? He might be able to help them."

"Certainly, I'll be right along." The Master replaced the receiver and looked at his watch again. It was still showing him live pictures of the increasing confused Bethany Tipton. He smiled evilly. "Don't worry, nobody is going to disturb you now." With a sweep of his index finger the picture changed to show that idiot Grout trying to reason with two very familiar characters. "Ah, Doctor. On time as ever. Hmm, now how do I get you away from that hall without revealing myself?" He thought for a second and then, with his mind made up, strode towards the door to execute the next part of his plan.


End file.
